We know the stories of dolls hanging by nooses, nigger written on dry erase boards and walls, stories of nigger said casually at parties by White students too drunk to know their own names but who know their place well enough to know nothing will happen if they call you out your name, stories of nigger said stone sober, stories of them calling you nigger using every other word except what they really mean to call you, stories of you having to explain your experience in classrooms—your language, your dress, your hair, your music, your skin—yourself, of you having to fight for all of us in classrooms where you are often the only one or one of a few, stories of you choosing silence as a matter of survival.

Sometimes we’re in those classrooms with you.

We know there is always more that people don’t see or hear or want to know, but we see you. We hear you.

In our mostly White classrooms we work with some of you, you who tell us other professors don’t see, don’t hear you. You, who come to our offices with stories of erasure that make you break down. They don’t see me, you say. They don’t hear me. We know and don’t know how to hold your tears.

How do we hold your tears, and your anger?

You are our sons and daughters, our brothers and sisters, our mothers, our fathers, our godchildren. You, with your stories of erasure break our hearts because you are family, because your stories of erasure ultimately are stories of violence, because your stories mirror our experiences, past and present.

Right now. This is all happening now. Every day. We know this.

We want you to hear.

You tell us your stories and sometimes we tell you our own stories of cops who stop us on the way to work, of grandparents born in Jim Crow, of parents born during segregation into an economic reality that made them encourage us to get solid jobs, of parents born outside the United States who came face-to-face with the harsh reality of U.S. anti-Blackness, how we chose institutions where we often feel alone. We tell you stories of almost dropping out of school, stories of working harder than anyone else even when it felt like it was killing us, even when it is killing us. We tell you we know historically and predominantly White universities might let you/us in, but they don’t care much about retaining us no matter how many times they misuse pretty words like diversity, or insult us with the hard slap of minority.

We tell you about the underground network of folks who helped us, the people who wrote us letters, the offices we cried in, the times we were silent, the times we spoke up, the times we thought we wouldn’t make it, the people who told us to hold on. We tell you over and over about the railroad of Black professors and other professors of color who we call when we know one of us is in need. We remind you skinfolk isn’t always kinfolk. We tell you to be careful. We tell you to take risks. We tell you, guard your heart. We tell you, keep your heart open. We tell you to hold on. Hold on, we say, to you, to us, because holding on to each other is everything, often the only thing.

Hold on.

We want a future for you, for us right now.

We write this is in solidarity with the families of Tamir Rice, Mike Brown, Renisha McBride, Trayvon Martin, Rekia Boyd, Aiyana Stanley Jones, and so many others who they are killing, so many others who should have had the chance to be in our classrooms, who should have had the chance to simply be.

We write this in solidarity with Harriet Tubman, Ida B. Wells, Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, and too many others stolen and gone, too many others who fought for us to be in this privileged place where we still have to fight for justice.

We write this in solidarity with you, Black students, here and elsewhere, and with those on the ground for over 100 days, four and a half hours, two seconds.

The living and the dead. We hear you. We see you.

In our classes we’ll continue to do what we’ve always done: teach about race, anti-Blackness, and White Supremacy. This has and will continue to put us in positions we have to defend. This has and will continue to compromise our jobs, our health, our relationships with other people who profess to be our colleagues. This has and will compromise relationships with partners who tell us with love we need to set better boundaries.

We’re trying.

We study ourselves. We study, we live Black lives. We organize. We strategize. We march. We teach to nurture and resist. We don’t always talk about the letters we write to administrators, the angry emails we send, the committees and task forces we serve on, the department meetings where we question and push for more, the colleagues who question our research, our presence, our skin, our manner of being. We don’t always talk about the weight of pushing for more, more being basic equity, more being the right to exist without explanation or apology, more being the right to love and be loved.

What we do is not enough. It’s never enough, but we’ll keep on. We’ll keep finding ways to do more. For all of us.

We’re supposed to say views expressed herein are ours alone, but we believe that truth to be self-evident.

Some people who share our views will not sign this but they’re still with us. The living and the dead.

We’ve never been alone.

You already know your life matters. Know we’re fighting with you and for you. With all of us. For all of us.

We got you.

We see you. We hear you. We love you.

********

Rae Paris, Michigan State University

Django Paris, Michigan State University

Jessica Marie Johnson, Michigan State University

Brian G. Gilmore, Michigan State University

Michael J. Dumas, New York University

Terry Flennaugh, Michigan State University

Tama Hamilton-Wray, Michigan State University

Jeff Wray, Michigan State University

Yomaira Figueroa, Michigan State University

Tacuma Peters, Michigan State University

Michelle A. Purdy, Washington University in St. Louis

Adrienne Dixson, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Maisha T. Winn, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Dorinda J. Carter Andrews, Michigan State University

Terrion Williamson, Michigan State University

Karla FC Holloway, Duke University

Kiese Laymon, Vassar College

Chezare A. Warren, Michigan State University

Shaun R. Harper, University of Pennsylvania

Adam J. Banks, University of Kentucky

Metta Samá, Salem College

Tamara Butler, Michigan State University

Lisa Ze Winters, Wayne State University

Ebony Elizabeth Thomas, University of Pennsylvania

Valerie Kinloch, The Ohio State University

Ibram X Kendi, University at Albany-SUNY

NiCole T. Buchanan, Michigan State University

Geneva Smitherman, Michigan State University

Keisha L. Green, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Terah Venzant Chambers, Michigan State University

Glenn Chambers, Michigan State University

David E. Kirkland, New York University

Brittney Cooper, Rutgers University

Mark Anthony Neal, Duke University

Tamura Lomax, Virginia Commonwealth University

Treva Lindsey, The Ohio State University

April Baker-Bell, Michigan State University

Risée Chaderton, Barbados Community College

Mary Frances Berry, University of Pennsylvania

Derrais Carter, Portland State University

LaShawn Harris, Michigan State University

Andre E. Johnson, Memphis Theological Seminary

Yaba Blay, Drexel University

Chanequa Walker-Barnes, McAfee School of Theology

Koritha Mitchell, The Ohio State University

Kaila Adia Story, University of Louisville

Charles W. McKinney, Rhodes College

Amrita Chakrabarti Myers, Indiana University

Shannon Gibney, Minneapolis Community & Technical College (MCTC)

Aliyyah I. Abdur-Rahman, Brandeis University

Brian Ragsdale, Walden University

LaGarrett J. King, Clemson University

Jeffrey Q. McCune, Jr., Washington University in St. Louis

Kristal Moore Clemons, Florida A&M University

Tamara Bertrand Jones, Florida State University

Angelyn Mitchell, Georgetown University

Carla A. Jones, Lancaster Bible College at the Center for Urban Theological Studies

Allen J. Green, Sarah Lawrence College

Bianca I Laureano, College of Mount Saint Vincent

Nina A. Nabors, Walden University

Oscar Holmes IV, Rutgers University School of Business

Marisa Parham, Amherst College

Pamela R. Lightsey, Boston University

Erica K. Dotson, Clayton State University

Tamika L. Carey – University at Albany, SUNY

April Langley, University of Missouri-Columbia

Eric Darnell Pritchard, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Crystal Feimster, Yale University

Eve Dunbar, Vassar College

Latish Reed, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Caridad Souza, Colorado State University

Tracie Q. Gilbert, Widener University

Kai M. Green, Northwestern University

Stephanie Troutman, Appalachian State University

Anthony D. Greene, College of Charleston

Leslie Alexander, Ohio State University

Richard Pierce, University of Notre Dame

Ernest Morrell, Teachers College, Columbia University

Barnor Hesse, Northwestern University

Jasmine Johnson, Brandeis University

Valerie Bridgeman, Methodist Theological School in Ohio

Lisa Woolfork, University of Virginia

Donnie Johnson Sackey, Wayne State University

Frances B. Henderson, Maryville College

Carla Shedd, Columbia University

Fadeke Castor, Texas A&M University

Layli Maparyan, Wellesley College

Courtney D. Marshall, University of New Hampshire

Chad Williams, Brandeis University

Uri McMillan, University of California-Los Angeles

Daryl Michael Scott, Howard University

Robin M. Boylorn, University of Alabama

JeffriAnne Wilder, University of North Florida

Tommie Shelby, Harvard University

Reid Gómez, Kalamazoo College

Crystal M. Hayes, Smith College

Joel Wade, Bucknell University

Thadious Davis, University of Pennsylvania

Shirletta J. Kinchen, University of Louisville

Noelle Trent, University of Maryland University College

Martha S. Jones, University of Michigan

Filomina C. Steady, Wellesley College

Valorie Thomas, Pomona College

Christa J. Porter, Michigan State University

Tabitha Chester, Denison University

H. Samy Alim, Stanford University

Gloria Ladson-Billings, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Brian Bantum, Seattle Pacific University

Ana Lucia Araujo, Howard University

Marlon Rachquel Moore, UNC Wilmington

Michelle Barrett Ferrier, Ohio University

Ferentz Lafargue, Williams College

Barbara Krauthamer, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

JoAnne Marie Terrell, Chicago Theological Seminary

Teri McMurtry-Chubb, Mercer University

Shannon J. Miller, Minnesota State University, Mankato

Gail Arthurs Krahenbuhl, Triton College

Elaine Richardson, Ohio State University

Ashante Reese, Rhodes College

Larry Lee Rowley, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Teresa Fry Brown, Candler School of Theology, Emory University

Celeste Walley-Jean, Clayton State University

Deirdre Cooper Owens, Queens College, CUNY

Phia S. Salter, Texas A&M University

Deborah E. McDowell, University of Virginia

Tiffany M. Gill, University of Delaware

Wil Gafney, Brite Divinity School at Texas Christian University

Utz McKnight, University of Alabama

Robin J Hayes, The New School

Robyn Spencer, Lehman College

Sonja Lanehart, University of Texas at San Antonio

Chris Johnson, University of Memphis

Natanya Duncan, Morgan State University

Stephanie Y. Evans, Clark Atlanta University

Hilton Kelly, Davidson College

Ernest L. Gibson III, Rhodes College

LaTasha Levy, University of Virginia

April Warren-Grice, Kansas State University

Erin M. Kerrison, University of Pennsylvania

Elaine Salo, University of Delaware

Relando Thompkins, Oakland University, University of Michigan

James M Jones, University of Delaware

Judith Weisenfeld, Princeton University

Alicia D. Bonaparte, Pitzer College

Candice M. Jenkins, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Barrett Berry, Valparaiso University

Cecilia D. Shelton, Saint Augustine’s University

Leah Gunning Francis, Eden Theological Seminary

Michelle R. Scott, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Saru M. Matambanadzo, Tulane University

Bryana H. French, University of St. Thomas

Kyra D. Gaunt, Baruch College-CUNY

Peggy Jones, University of Nebraska at Omaha

Ethan Johnson, Portland State University

Kidada E. Williams, Wayne State University​

Regina N. Bradley, Kennesaw State University

Kelvin C. Black, Hunter College

Tara Betts, Binghamton University

Shawn M. Bediako, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Siobhan Carter-David, Southern Connecticut State University

Walidah Imarisha, Portland State University

Samaa Abdurraqib, University of Southern Maine

Krystal D. Frazier, West Virginia University

Jonterri Gadson, Bloomfield College

Kimberly R. Moffitt, University of Maryland Baltimore County

Sybol Anderson, St. Mary’s College of Maryland

Stephanie Baker White, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Khalilah L. Brown-Dean, Quinnipiac University

Araya Debessay, University of Delaware

Anne H. Charity Hudley, The College of William and Mary

Carmen Kynard, John Jay College of Criminal Justice/CUNY

Lisa Green, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Reena Goldthree, Dartmouth College

Trina J. Wright-Dixon, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Lisa K. Bates, Portland State University

Ginny M. Jones, Michigan State University

Jacinda Townsend, Indiana University

Simone Browne, The University of Texas at Austin

André Carrington, Drexel University

Lasana Kazembe, University of Illinois at Chicago

Vanessa Siddle Walker, Emory University

Antwanisha Alameen-Shavers, San Diego State University

Tanisha C. Ford, UMass Amherst

Robbin Chapman, Wellesley College

Ellington Graves, Virginia Tech

Russell E. Williams, Wheaton College (MA)

Peter James Hudson, University of California, Los Angeles

Marcus A. Simmons, North Park University

Lanita Jacobs, University of Southern California

Bettina A. Judd, The College of William and Mary

Bianca C. Williams, University of Colorado Boulder

Susana M. Morris, Auburn University

Aisha Durham, University of South Florida

Jillian Carter Ford, Kennesaw State University

Chance W. Lewis, University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Jennifer M. Wilks, The University of Texas at Austin

Michael Leo Owens, Emory University

Charles H.F. Davis III, University of Pennsylvania

Max Hunter, Seattle Pacific University

Youlanda D.Barber, King Saud University, KSA

Walter D. Greason, Monmouth University

Elizabeth Todd-Breland, University of Illinois at Chicago

Noemi Waight, University at Buffalo

Anthea Butler, University of Pennsylvania

Jemima Pierre, UCLA

Velda R. Love, North Park University – Chicago

Rachel Watkins, American University

Annette Madlock Gatison, Southern Connecticut State University

Beverly J. Moss, The Ohio State University

Shanté Paradigm Smalls, St. John’s University

Colette Gaiter, University of Delaware

Sharon Marshall, St. John’s University

Charles Peterson, The College of Wooster

Sandra E. Weissinger, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

Joyce E. King, Georgia State University

Herman Beavers, University of Pennsylvania

Ronald Jackson, University of Cincinnati

Clemmie L. Harris, University of Pennsylvania

Victoria A. Chevalier, Medgar Evers College (CUNY)

Leigh Raiford, University of California-Berkeley

Ruha Benjamin, Princeton University

Salamishah Tillet, University of Pennsylvania

Nyama McCarthy-Brown, Indiana University

Linda E. Thomas, Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago

Daniel Joseph Lind, Cypress College

Lee H. Butler, Jr., Chicago Theological Seminary

Shelley P. Haley, Hamilton College

Kami Fletcher, Delaware State University

Aishah Shahidah Simmons, Temple University

Gabrielle Foreman, The University of Delaware

Cynthia B. Dillard, The University of Georgia

Michelle Moyd, Indiana University-Bloomington

McKinley E. Melton, Gettysburg College

Akissi Britton, Pace University

Anita August, Sacred Heart University

Tameka Bradley Hobbs, Florida Memorial University

Meredith M. Gadsby, Oberlin College

Jerrell Beckham, Denison University

Jennifer D. Williams, Morgan State University

Angela Ards, Southern Methodist University

Tryan L. McMickens, Suffolk University

Nikki Brown, University of New Orleans

Régine Michelle Jean-Charles, Boston College

Kennetta Hammond Perry, East Carolina University

Elsa Barkley Brown, University of Maryland College Park

Earle J. Fisher, Rhodes College

Donna V. Jones, University of California, Berkeley

Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Princeton University

Kwame Holmes, University of Colorado-Boulder

Mary Roaf, Northern Arizona University

Daren Graves, Simmons College

Sherrie L. Proctor, Queens College, City University of New York

Brandon R. Byrd, Mississippi State University

Christina Sharpe, Tufts University

Hector F. Myers, Vanderbilt University

Pam Brooks, Oberlin College

Jon A. Yasin, Bergen Community College

Jonathan C. Smith, Saint Louis University

Terri N. Watson, The City College of New York

Gina Athena Ulysse, Wesleyan University

Arnetha F. Ball, Stanford University

Monica L. Miller, Barnard College

Cameron Knight, Carnegie Mellon University

Nikki A. Greene, Wellesley College

Tracey Elaine Hucks, Davidson College

Pero G. Dagbovie, Michigan State University

Marlo D. David, Purdue University

La Mont Terry, Occidental College

Nyasha Grayman-Simpson, Goucher College

Angela R. Logan, The University of Notre Dame

Karsonya Wise Whitehead, Loyola University Maryland

Jennifer Bloomquist, Gettysburg College

Sika Dagbovie-Mullins, Florida Atlantic University

David Canton, Connecticut College

George Derek Musgrove, University Maryland Baltimore County

Renee Simms, University of Puget Sound

Patricia Williams Lessane, The College of Charleston

Candace Epps-Robertson, Michigan State University

Lallen T. Johnson, Drexel University

Denisha Jones, Howard University

Artisia Ifabukonla Green, College of William and Mary

Erin Harper, Miami University

Douglas Edward Ramsey, Wesleyan University

Jill M. Humphries, University of Toledo

Conseula Francis, College of Charleston

Crystal M. Fleming, Stony Brook University

Shanetia P. Clark, Salisbury University

Steven Nelson, University of California, Los Angeles

Regina Dixon-Reeves, Chicago State University

Shana L. Redmond, University of Southern California

Jessica Millward, University of California, Irvine

Joyce Ladner, Howard University

Riché Daniel Barnes, Smith College

Daniel White Hodge, North Park University

Mia Charlene White, University of California Santa Barbara

Lisa Harrison, Ohio University

Barbara McCaskill, University of Georgia

Johnny E. Williams, Trinity College

Michelle Rankins, Cuyahoga Community College

Darius Bost, San Francisco State University

Kim F. Hall, Barnard College-Columbia University

Stephen John Quaye, Miami University

Z’étoile Imma, University of Notre Dame

Erica Edwards, UC Riverside

Terry Lindsay, North Park University

Abosede George, Barnard College – Columbia University

Monica Jones, Berea College

Lorenzo DuBois Baber, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Francille Rusan Wilson, University of Southern California

Tracey Lewis-Giggetts, Philadelphia University

Darlene Clark Hine, Northwestern University

Erica Armstrong Dunbar, University of Delaware

Wornie Reed, Virginia Tech

Sarah Haley, University of California-Los Angeles

Elon Dancy II, University of Oklahoma

Robin G. Nelson, Skidmore College

Bernadette M. Gailliard, Rutgers University

Edward A. Scott, Mary Baldwin College

Carl W. Kenney II, University of Missouri

Karen Flynn, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Mahauganee D. Shaw, Miami University

Shawndra Hill, University of Pennsylvania

Maisha I. K. Handy, Interdenominational Theological Center

Christienna Fryar, SUNY Buffalo State

LeConté J. Dill, State University of New York Downstate

Melanie E. Bratcher, The University of Oklahoma

Kevin A. Browne, Syracuse University

Charles R. Lawrence III, University of Hawaii

marcus d. harvey, Baruch College/CUNY

Denise James, University of Dayton

Camille Z. Charles, University of Pennsylvania

Natasha A. Brown, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Shanna L. Smith, Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania

Brandon Hutchinson, Southern Connecticut State University

Rhonda Frederick, Boston College

Whitney Laster Pirtle, University of California, Merced

Aneeka A. Henderson, Amherst College

Ashon Crawley, University of California, Riverside

Dennis Tyler, Fordham University

Nadine Finigan-Carr, University of Maryland – Baltimore

Charles Burks, City College and B.M.C.C.

Chenjerai Kumanyika, Clemson University

Christina M. Grange, Clayton State University

Camika Royal, Loyola University Maryland

Michael C. Lens, University of California Los Angeles

Jean Beaman, Purdue University

Sheree L. Greer, St. Petersburg College

Vida B. Johnson, Georgetown Law

Michael Sterling Burns, West Chester University of Pennsylvania

Amber Jean-Marie Pabon, The University of Pittsburgh

Samiya Bashir, Reed College

Michele Elam, Stanford University

Darnell L. Moore, Vassar College

Shennette Garrett-Scott, University of Mississippi

Reynaldo Anderson Harris, Stowe State University

Nicole Jackson, Bowling Green State University

Patrick Douthit, North Carolina Central University and Duke University

Whitney Battle-Baptiste, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Claudia B. Isaac, University of New Mexico

Lawrence Ware, Oklahoma State University

Chrystal A. George Mwangi, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Darren Canady, University of Kansas

Randal Maurice Jelks, University of Kansas

Meredith Clark, University of North Texas

Ashley Brown Burns, Amherst College

Dylan C. Penningroth, Northwestern University

Kimberly Y. McCrae, Duke University

Asia Leeds, Spelman College

Michelle Harris, Rochester Institute of Technology

David Evans, Eastern Mennonite University

David Stovall, University of Illinois at Chicago

Ray Jordan, University of Texas at Arlington

KC Williams, Coastal Carolina Community College

Rhondda Robinson Thomas, Clemson University

Tryan L. McMickens, Suffolk University

Tryan L. McMickens, Suffolk University

Danielle M. Wallace, William Paterson University

Maya Corneille, North Carolina A&T State University

Eric Pierson, University of San Diego

Daniel Alexander Jones, Fordham University

Hodari A. Touré, University of California at Berkeley

Roxana Walker-Canton, film professor

Aimee Meredith Cox, Fordham University

Dexter Blackman, Loyola Marymount University

Brendesha Tynes, University of Southern California

Alisha Gaines, Florida State University

Tennille Allen, Lewis University

Bertin M. Louis, Jr., The University of Tennessee

Chris Tinson, Hampshire College

Marissa Jackson, New York University School of Law

Ebony M. Duncan, Washington University in St. Louis

Grisel Y. Acosta, Bronx Community College–City University of New York

Allyson Hobbs, Stanford University

Rashawn Ray, University of Maryland

Marini C. Lee, Michigan State University

Rodney D. Coates, Miami University

LaShay Harvey Jones, University of Baltimore

Robin D. G. Kelley, UCLA

Matthew J. Countryman, University of Michigan

Nadia E. Brown, Purdue University

Brandon K. Winford, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Chris Massenburg, Saint Augustine’s University

Lillie Johnson Edwards, Drew University

Artress Bethany White, Carson-Newman University

Sabrina Pendergrass, University of Virginia

Angela James, Loyola Marymount University

Nzadi Keita, Ursinus College

Vanessa M. Holden, Michigan State University

Anthony Ratcliff, California State University, Northridge

Yvonne Davis Frear, San Jacinto College

Kerrita K. Mayfield, UMass Amherst

David Haynes, SMU

Deanna Hence, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Stephanie Shonekan, University of Missouri

Gayle T. Tate, Rutgers University

Dania V. Francis, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Ula Taylor, University of California, Berkeley

Carla Janáe Brown, Arizona State University

James Braxton Peterson, Lehigh University

Walton Muyumba, Indiana University

Nikky Finney, University of South Carolina

Vernon C. Mitchell, Jr., Princeton University

Angela Jackson-Brown, Ball State University

Lisa L. Thompson, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary

Jossianna Arroyo-Martínez, University of Texas, Austin

John B. Diamond, University of Wisconsin – Madison

Shawn Arango Ricks, Winston-Salem State University

Lynn A. Hampton, Texas Christian University

Regina Shands Stoltzfus, Goshen College

Tina L. Ligon, Howard Community College

LaGuana K. Gray, University of Texas at San Antonio

Cynthia A. Tyson, The Ohio State University

Robin R. Ford, Queensborough Community College/CUNY

Zakiya Brown, Rollins College

Tiyi M. Morris, Ohio State University

Leonard L. Brown, Northeastern University

Françoise N. Hamlin, Brown University

Collin Craig, St. Johns University

Velda R. Love, North Park Theological Seminary

Treasure Shields Redmond, Southwestern Illinois College

Kevin Lyles, University of Illinois at Chicago

Joanne Braxton, College of William and Mary

Jasmine Harris-LaMothe, Ursinus College

Deborah J. Johnson, Michigan State University

Jackie Jordan Irvine, Emory University

Lynette D. Nickleberry, Stephens College

Manya Whitaker, Colorado College

Lisa Crooms-Robinson, Howard University School of Law

Emmett G. Price III, Northeastern University

Ray Black, Colorado State University

Yasser Arafat Payne, University of Delaware

Amina Wadud, Professor Emeritus

Steve Locke, Massachusetts College of Art and Design

Tarshia L. Stanley, Spelman College

Tobias Wofford, Santa Clara University

Terri N. Watson, The City College of New York / CUNY

Shannon King, College of Wooster

Trica Danielle Keaton, Vanderbilt University

Donna Akiba Sullivan Harper, Spelman College

Monique Moultrie, Georgia State University

Carter Mathes, Rutgers University

Nick Mitchell, UC Riverside

Natasha Lightfoot, Columbia University

Helen Neville, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Evelyn M. Simien, University of Connecticut

Benita J. Barnes, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Victor Erik Ray, The University of Tennessee-Knoxville

Heidi R. Lewis, Colorado College

Amber A. Hewitt, University of Akron

Bettina Love, University of Georgia​

Melynda J. Price, University of Kentucky

David B. Miller, Case Western Reserve University

Angela K. Lewis, University of Alabama at Birmingham

Melanye White Dixon, The Ohio State University

Nikitah Okembe-RA Imani, University of Nebraska At Omaha

April Thames, PhD – University of California Los Angeles

Pearl K. Dowe, University of Arkansas

Leigh-Anne Francis, SUNY Oneonta

Menna Demessie, University of California Washington Center

Cynthia Oliver, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Glenn Bracey, Hollins University

Natalie Bullock Brown, Saint Augustine’s University

Kelly Lytle Hernandez, University of California, Los Angeles

Stanlie M. James, Arizona State University

Kevin Cokley, University of Texas at Austin

Christina Jones Davis, Christian Theological Seminary

Farah Jasmine Griffin, Columbia University

Robert A. Bellinger, Suffolk University

Marcia Chatelain, Georgetown University

Vincent Brown, Harvard University

Colette Cann, Vassar College

Darrell Cleveland Hucks, Keene State College

Zaire Dinzey, Rutgers University

Emmitt Y. Riley III, Coahoma Community College

Louis B. Ward, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Catherine R. Squires, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities

Selika Ducksworth-Lawton, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire

Lisa Brock, Kalamazoo College

Jennifer L. Morgan, New York University

Beverly Guy-Sheftall, Spelman College

Heather Z. Lyons, Loyola University Maryland

Quincy Mills, Vassar College

Sara E. Johnson, UC San Diego

Janaka B. Lewis, University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Damon J. Bullock, Western New Mexico University

Joycelyn Landrum-Brown, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Stacy Williams, Marist College

Constance Bailey, University of Southern Mississippi

Wahneema Lubiano, Duke University

Courtney J. Patterson, Beloit College

Therí Pickens, Bates College

Akinyele Umoja, Georgia State University

Ashley N. Woodson, University of Pittsburgh

Maxine McKinney de Royston, University of California, Berkeley

Russell Rickford, Cornell University

Melina Abdullah, California State University, Los Angeles

Amilcar Shabazz, University of Massachusetts

Billye Sankofa Waters, Northeastern University

Shane’a Thomas, University of Southern California

Reginold A. Royston, Williams College

Beverly Wallace, Shaw University Divinity School

Mariana Souto-Manning, Teachers College, Columbia University

Margaret Aymer, Interdenominational Theological Center

Karen L. Mapp, Harvard University

Luis Inoa, SUNY, New Paltz

Imani M. Cheers, The George Washington University

Toni Moore, Esquire, Eastern University

John Edwin Mason, Department of History

T.J. Tallie, Washington and Lee University

Tara T. Green, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Joshua Guild, Princeton University

Wadiya Udell, University of Washington, Bothell

Cirecie West-Olatunji, University of Cincinnati

Diana I. Williams, University of Southern California

Sherwin K. Bryant, Northwestern University

Jeremy Harper, Boise State University

Thema Bryant-Davis, Pepperdine University

Jervette R. Ward, University of Alaska Anchorage

Pamela Greene, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Albert R. Lee, University of Nevada, Reno

Danielle C. Heard, University of California, Davis

Angela N. Booker, UC San Diego

Lucy M. Brown, University of Arkansas

Arthé Anthony, Occidental College

Laurie Nsiah-Jefferson, Brandeis University

Carolyn Finney, University of California, Berkeley

Christi Griffin, St. Louis University

Rasul A. Mowatt, Indiana University School of Public Health, Bloomington

VOD APPEAL FOR HOLIDAY FUNDS FOR AIYANA JONES’ FAMILY: “VOD was there the morning Aiyana was killed on May 16, 2010, and has covered virtually every related event since. Now at this time of heightened awareness regarding the extent of police killings and atrocities committed against Black and Brown people, please let us not forget little Aiyana Jones and her family.”

RAISE MONEY FOR AURA ROSSER’S CHILDREN: “On November 9, 2014, Aura Rosser, a black woman living with her boyfriend in Ann Arbor was fatally shot by Ann Arbor Police. Responding to a 911 call to Ms. Rosser’s home, police had weapons drawn and fired on Ms. Rosser within 60 seconds of arriving to the scene. Shooting her in the head and chest, police took the life of a mother of three, right before the holiday season.”

***update: If you don’t see your name or if there is any error, please don’t hesitate to let me know via email. If you put your info in the comments section, please email your information.

If you are a Black professor and would like to add your name, please email blackspaceblog@gmail.com with your name as you would like it to appear, along with your institution. Please include this statement in your email: “I am a Black professor and would like to add my name to the letter.” (A big shout out to Ashley N. Woodson, University of Pittsburgh who (I think) was the person who included this sentence in her email.)

Black adjunct professors are welcome to sign. Please only send one email. Do let me know if your name is spelled incorrectly, if your name is listed more than once, or if there’s any other error, but please be patient with the corrections.

(If you do not identify as a Black professor you can support by sharing widely. Thank you for being with us. )

(Also, adding names as fast as I can. Going to take some time. I can’t respond to every email message, but thank you. Y’all are bringing the love right now.

thank you from a college sophomore currently struggling through finals. this is radical self love, validation for years of hard work, and most of all the strength of community that we all carry with us. it brought tears to my eyes.

My heart fills with gratitute for the strength, the empathy and love authentically expressed in this open letter to our chidren who so need us in this world where we are thought little of and everything around them screams,”You are not worthy!” To have our educators step up and let them know that they care, that they see them, that they know because we’ve all been there either directly or vicariously through a loved one is honorable because in doing so they expose themselves as Black conscious indviduals who are no carbon copies of their white counterparts in black skin. Thus in doing so put themselves in the line of fire. And kid yourself not, they have. They are breathing, feeling, compassionate Black human beings who are here for our youth and have boldly come forth and proclaimed it. Well, as a member of the black press, ” Thank You; I am proclaiming that we have your back.”

This open letter has meant more to me then anything I have read about the recent events in our communities. I am a multiracial student who has never been in a learning environment where I could look around and see faces that look like mine. I have felt enormous pressure to stay silent, composed, smile, and fill their quota as a (well-mannered) minority in the program. The loneliness I have felt during my collegiate education only seems to get worse the more I excel. I have become a master of downplaying my cultural identity in-order to succeed academically. I have used silence to survive.

Thank you for this letter. It is sitting above my desk. Hopefully some day I will have to courage to break my silence.

My heart fills with gratitude for the strength, the empathy and love authentically expressed in this open letter to our children who so need us in this world where we are ‘thought little of’ and everything around them screams, ”You are not worthy!” To have our educators step up and let them know that they care, that they see them, that they know because we’ve all been there either directly or vicariously through a loved one is honorable because in doing so they expose themselves as Black conscious indviduals who are no carbon copies of their white counterparts in black skin. Thus in doing so put themselves in the line of fire. And kid yourself not, they have. They are breathing, feeling, compassionate Black human beings who are here for our youth and have boldly come forth and proclaimed it. Well, as a member of the black press, ” Thank You; I am proclaiming that we have your back.”

From a White university student: Thank you for sharing your stories. Schools need this. Students, professors, families, friends, and communities need this. I need this. I am committed to listening, protesting the injustice of your erasure, and learning the most difficult truths about what Black people and other people of color experience on a daily basis.

What a beautiful piece of writing. I love to see the long list of names here. Thank you for this!

This is beautifully written and so powerful ❤ I am a native hawaiian who spent a lot of time in a predominately white area, so although I will never know what it is like to be a black american, I do know what it's like to feel stereotyped and treated differently because of your skin color ❤ I loved this piece so much.

This has to be one of the best letters that I have read to date. I appreciate all that you do for our people, nation, and world. I wish I was a college educator, I would sign my name in a heartbeat. But I do support your efforts and i will make a difference in my community! Thank you all.

I am neither black nor white but I feel a sense of support as well from reading this. Maybe not today nor tomorrow but I do believe one day people will learn that skin colour’s merely a superficial appearance and know that according to mitochondial DNA we are descendents of a common female ancestor who’s black. I am just one small person but my support and love to anyone whoever is reading this. Especially my black brothers and sisters out there! :’)

I found myself crying while reading this letter earlier this morning (having something to do with my lack of sleep certainly, but a lot to do with how poignant and timely the message in this letter was for me). Within this letter are powerful statements about the state of denial in regards to racism and the dual lives that people of color have to live in our nation today.

Your letter has hit me powerfully hard, and I find myself fighting back tears all morning since I have read it. I hope that others will find that this letter will help inspire us to actively build solidarity around sharing our experiences and coming together to create spaces that honor people based on all of their qualities as human beings; rather than to stifle and oppress based on a lack of understanding. Within this letter is the recognition of how important culture and color is to our identities and experiences in our world.

“Over here” in Europe, it is so difficult to grasp the intensity of this issue, I thought we were over this chapter of human history, unfortunately we aren’t.
Thank you for putting your emotions into such precious words.

Wow. This was just shared across the Avodah, (the Jewish service corps) alumni listserve. I am thrilled to see this letter of support, love, and power written and spreading widely. Passing it on further.

I want to thank all those who made this site and discussion possible especially for Black and Professors of Color.
It seems to me that we have entered into a period of heighten critical, emotional and collective outrage. Historically, cultural shifts occur when a particular social catalyst becomes a focal point, an instrument that is expressed in some form of directed action. The objectives may not always be clearly articulated at first but eventually the meaning and goals are crystallized.
I see something profound beginning to stir here in Berkeley CA where I live and elsewhere that feels like an authentic expression of disgust, outage and the beginning of a critical social resistance to Power and Empire!
To the students who have dedicated themselves to be disciplined and persevere at this time I challenge you to protect and safeguard your vision for the life you imagine. Your vision and the life you are creating is a seed for the collective aspersions of All people from All Time wanting to be realized In and through You!

This beautiful and powerful letter needs to find its way to all the airwaves. Each and every american needs to hear or read this eye opener. I continue to ask myself, What has happened to our society? Without the Lord and my wonderful church family, I would be just another angry black man.

[…] Note: This letter was originally published on Black Space: Crafting a Place for Black Women Writers and is reprinted here with permission. The photo was taken by Darryl Quinton Evans on Dec. 6 at […]

Heartfelt thanks to the authors and signers of this letter for your powerful message of compassion and support for our black students. I am one of many white professors who stand in solidarity with our black colleagues and our black students. We are shamed by the racism that persists in the institutions we benefit from. We are awed by your courage. We are hopeful and dedicated to participating with you in transforming our places of work and learning into places of equality, dignity, free expression and well being for all of us. We will keep listening and reaching out.

Your efforts help all of us take ethics seriously. To the extent that any group ignores the oppression and abuses visited upon another, such a group arguably has no real ethics, regardless of its individual members’ direct participation in the abuses. By ignoring the obvious to spare itself pain or effort or risk, such a group practices instead a sham ethics pretending to be real. Evil, in essence, but less honest. Such a group benefits from all undesirable efforts to make this situation harder to ignore. I think so, anyway. Thanks.

Thank you for this powerful letter. I am not a person of color, but I AM a person who believes in justice and equality. I AM a person who acknowledges white privilege and the ill that it does our society. As Reagan Jackson said in his or her reply: “My loving intention and activism is of the same spirit”.

This is pure GOLD. This motivates me, feeling that i have a double- mission. Spiritually and color bound. It’s mental, and to deal with the ignorance daily is sad. I have my free-form locs (crown) , my gauges and tattoos. I love everyone no matter the color, and i love my color because of the struggles of history we have overcome. Much Love.

Yes.. This is beautiful. I go to university in England where the university is prominently white and I find myself explaining myself all to much, and this actually made my hark warm, this piece of writing! I resinate with this…thank you

I hear you! your letter is beautiful and I am standing with you all to make our world a fair, just and really equal one. I know discrimination from my religion, and I do understand the feelings. I am totally supporting your cause and send you my warmest blessings

Thank you for such a compelling and profound letter. This message must be spread all over the world even to our historically Black colleges and universities. Yes, we have some of them there who don’t see or hear us. It helps to remind us and keep us grounded.

Thank you so very, very much for this letter. I am currently crying as I flash back to years of insults and humiliation suffered as a result of “silent” teachers and professors who “blindly” ignored the cruelty hammered at me during my youth at “majority” schools. As a 77 year old mother, former elementary school educator, lawyer and judge, I applaud you for taking this stand and supporting our children. Thank you for letting them know that you see them and know their value. Where possible, please share Margaret Burroughs’ poem “What Shall I Tell My Children Who Are Black?” with your students. During the 1960’s I often shared Dr. Burroughs’ poem with my birth and “village” children. Thank you and may God bless and protect you.

It is so affirming to finally hear encouragement instead of stares, the eye rolls, or commits of being ‘crazy’ and needing to ‘get over it’. Over the summer I tried to keep it together during two lectures I gave about subtle racism (sometimes not so subtle) in media, classrooms, textbooks, etc. and another about mindfulness in education while giving a moment of silence at the end for the 2013- 2014 victims. Did I mention the room was filled mostly of non people of color? Though many were sadden by my stories and seemed to think of the issues as isolated incidences, classmates surprisingly came with questions and two even apologized ‘if’ they had unknowingly offended me. I feel progress can happen if we are allowed to speak out, especially in higher education. My point is don’t be afraid to speak your heart with people outside your race. Not all will listen, we are use to this, but the more they hear the more change can come about. The community needs all people to stand up and make a change.
I plan on dedicating the next few years in obtaining a PhD in efforts to support our community specifically in classroom education and textbooks. Suggestion: Find an area/industry that motivates you and dedicate your time helping to improve your standard of life in injustice and your community. Every industry is effected; lets make a better future. Thanks for listening!

So beautifully put. These babies are brilliant and fearsome all by themselves, but its the way that these educators and community stakeholders uplift and suport them that will determine their future. I took up the charge to lift up these little brothers and sisters mainly because i remember how impacted i was, and still am, by the kindness and wisdom of my elders. We eaxh have a role to play but its tou educators that have probably the hardeat and most xeitixal job amd its just so powerdu Lal to know how ser ook ous ‘ll y you all take that job!!!

[…] Mecca Slaughter also read an open letter to students signed by a long list of black faculty nationwide posted on blackspaceblog.com. The statement read in part: “You with your stories of erasure […]

[…] Mecca Slaughter also read an open letter to students signed by a long list of black faculty nationwide posted on blackspaceblog.com. The statement read in part: “You with your stories of erasure […]

[…] expression of solidarity with their students, Black faculty at Michigan State University wrote “An Open Letter of Love of Love to Black Students: #BlackLivesMatter” in December of 2014. The letter went viral and ended up with nearly 1000 faculty and staff […]

[…] expression of solidarity with their students, Black faculty at Michigan State University wrote “An Open Letter of Love to Black Students: #BlackLivesMatter” in December of 2014. The letter went viral and ended up with nearly 1000 faculty and staff […]

Thank you from a junior at Bryn Mawr College trying to finish college. From a Black woman aspiring to get her doctorate and continue this beautiful legacy you have all continued. Thank you for holding space for us. I see you all.

The Black Queer Adventures is a new zine that will share stories, artwork, interviews, essays, poetry from Black Queer/Trans people about their experiences related to Blackness, Gender and Sexuality, and other intersectionalities...